The Paths of Warriors
by Ereborus Nyx
Summary: The Pokémon world has been fractured into 17 Kingdoms, ruled by the strongest of their type. Each Kingdom has a Temple, with a Guardian for each temple. The Dark types make a move to destroy these temples, and the Musketeers must find the Warriors...
1. Chapter 1: On Tranquil Wings

Virizion raced across the plain, scything down the tall grass as it went. She could see the forest up ahead, all she had to do was reach it before her hunters could. A beating of wings could be heard as her hooves pummelled the ground. Looking up, Virizion saw a Tranquil catching up to her. 'Virizion!' the Tranquil shouted 'I have news!' Virizion slowed down so the Tranquil could keep up.  
>'What is it!' Virizion replied between pants of breath.<br>'Cobalion is stuck on the East front; he is being overwhelmed by Groudon's Ground type army! He requests assistance immediately!' explained Tranquil.  
>Virizion snarls 'tell him I will come!' she looked back towards the ever closer forest 'All I have to do is reach the centre of this forest, and I can find him the ultimate ally!'<p>

Cobalion looked out on the Ground type army, as an eternal sandstorm swirled around them. 'Sir!' Cobalion looked round to see a Lairon quivering in its armour plates, obviously terrified. 'What is it?' asked Cobalion, trying to sound confident and unafraid so as to not scare his troops.  
>'The Tranquil you sent off is coming back!' the Lairon proved this by pointing towards a growing speck in the sky.<br>'Excellent!' Cobalion boomed. 'Let's see what the old gal Virizion was up to!'  
>The Tranquil got closer and closer. Suddenly, a Gliscor burst out of the Ground type army, shooting forwards towards the advancing Tranquil.<br>'Take out that Gliscor!' Cobalion roared.  
>A Magnezone somewhere in Cobalion's army hovered over to his leader 'ELECTRIC-TYPE-MOVES-DO-NOT-AFFECT-GLISCOR-SO-WE-WILL-USE-OUR-STEEL-TYPE-ATTACKS'<br>Cobalion nodded 'Very well- launch the Flash Cannon!'  
>Magnezone's magnets glowed red and blue and sent out strange noises. All the Magnemite and Magneton gathered around Magnezone. 'LOAD,' said Magnezone.<br>All the Magnemite and Magneton glowed white, and formed a ball of white light in front of them. 'FIRE' said Cobalion and Magnezone in unison. All of the Magnet Pokémon released their balls of light at once, causing them to fuse to make even larger balls of light that raced towards the Gliscor.  
>'Dead on target, sir!' cheered the Lairon, causing Cobalion to smile.<br>The Glisocr, however, made a sphere of green energy around itself. Cobalion roared 'It's using protect!'  
>The Flash Cannon hit the Protect, exploding into tiny red orbs that quickly dissipated into nothing. The Tranquil tried it's best to fly away from the Gliscor, but it caught hold of Traquil with its pincer. It snapped the Tranquil's neck then threw at it Cobalion's feet, where the dead Tranquil's skull smashed, showering blood on Cobalion and Lairon. Lairon stood there in horror 'This is nothing like what i was expecting! This is nothing like a pokemon battle...' Lairon said quietly.<br>'No' said Cobalion 'this isn't a Pokémon battle'. Cobalion looked back at the Ground type army, observing Groudon order the Camerupts to stay close to him so their Eruption would be more powerful.  
>'This' said Cobalion 'Is Pokémon warfare'<p>

Virizion galloped into the centre of the forest, glancing around as the frightened forest Pokémon hid behind trees and in holes in the ground. A Noctowl's hoot pierced the silence, scaring several Rattatta to run in front of Virizion, causing Virzion to jump in fear and lose her footing. Crying out in shock, Virizion tripped over a gnarled tree root, slamming her face on the tree the root belonged to. Everything went black.

'Mommy? Can I look at her?'. Virizion heard a small voice pierce the darkness of her dreams.  
>'No darling,' replied a closer, yet older voice, 'We don't know who she is, so we wouldn't want to upset our guest would we?'<br>Virizion opened one eye, and saw a large brown rabbit with fluffy ears tending to her head wound. Looking past the closet rabbit, she saw a smaller one playing with a green Pokémon that looked like a ballerina. The ballerina suddenly looked at Virizion, cocking his head as he looked right into Virizion's eyes, then he turned towards the larger rabbit.  
>'Excuse me Mrs Lopunny, but I think your guest is awake no-, I can feel her fear.'<br>'Mrs' Lopunny jumped back and told Kirlia and Buneary to leave the room a moment. While Lopunny ushered the young ones out, Virizion looked around the room. It seemed to be made underneath a tree, with walls of solid earth, yet a roof of tangling roots. A table was the centre of the room, with two books out on the table. One seemed to be referencing to the treating of head injuries, whilst the other was a book on Grass types. Virizion got up and flicked through the book. Not once, in the entire book, was she mentioned. However she also noted, with a sense of satisfaction, that both her colleagues, Celebi and Shaymin, had not been mentioned either. In the back of the book however, a reference said that Legendary Grass types could not be put in due to lack of knowledge of them. A voice suddenly came from behind Virizion 'So you are a legendary pokemon?' Virizion turned around to see Kirlia standing attentively behind her. 'I tried finding you in the Grass Type book, but it didn't have any information on you, so I thought maybe you weren't a Grass type,' Kirlia frowned 'So I checked the other books, and I only found a minor reference to you in the Steel Type book.'  
>Virizion looked down at the Emotion Pokémon with a confused expression 'Why was there an entry for me in the Steel Type book?'<br>Kirlia shook his head 'It wasn't an entry, more of cameo,' with blinding speed, he twirled over to the book shelf and extracted a metal grey book and, just as fast, hopped onto the table, where used his psychic powers to flip through the book to a page marked 'Legends'.  
>'Okay then, let's see...' Kirlia put on a face of intense concentration that made Virizion bite back laughter, 'okay then, the Iron Pokémon, the Temporal Pokémon, the Volcano Pokémon, etc, etc... Here we go! The Iron Will Pokémon!'<br>Kirlia flattened out the page with his hand, then began to read:  
>'Cobalion is one of the most loved of legendary Pokémon, since his whole purpose of existence is to protect smaller and weaker Pokémon from natural disasters, which is why it is said that it is the mortal enemy of Thundurus, Tornadus, Landorus, and Absol, since their purpose is to cause the disasters in the first place. It is said to work alongside two other Pokémon, the almost world renown Terrakion, and the mysterious Virizion-'<br>'World renown!' scoffed Virizion 'That fool couldn't tell his arse from his elbow!'  
>Kirlia giggled 'He is really cool though! Everyone has heard of him, he is almost a celebrity!'<br>'Don't get your hopes up kid...' replied Virizion cautiously.  
>Lopunny's voice could be heard in the distance, 'Kirlia! It's time for bed now! Buneary is already tucked in!'<br>Virizion looked at Kirlia 'Is Lopunny your mother?'  
>Kirlia shook his head vigorously 'No! It's just, my Mommy and Daddy are... well... they are...'<br>Virizion looked back at the book, of steel types, glancing at Cobalion's proud profile, which was, as was the rest of the book's pictures, drew by the famous artist Ken Smearglemori. Virizion turned back to Kirlia, to see him crying slightly, 'I want my Mommy back...'  
>'What happened to her?' Virizion asked, somewhat taken aback by Kitlia's sudden mood swing.<br>Kirlia looked up, and Virizion flinched at the amount of anger in them, 'They took my Mommy and Daddy!'  
>Kirlia ran out of the room, crying, Lopunny rushed into the room, looking angrily at Virizion. 'Is this how you respond to our hospitality? Upsetting small children! Get out of my house!' shouted Lopunny furiously.<br>Virizion stood up silently and walked out of the room and out of the house into the cool night air. Sighing, Virizion started walking slowly towards the middle of the forest. 'Miss Virizion!' Virizion turned sharply to see Kirlia climbing out of a window in the tree, using a vine to descend. Landing expertly, Kirlia twirled up to Virizion, and stood in front of her defiantly. 'He..he..help me find my parents!' demanded Kirlia.  
>Virizion smiled down at him, 'I will help you, just tell me who took your parents away!'<br>Kirlia trembled, 'It was...it was...the Monster' Kirlia looked around to see if said Monster was about to burst out of the undergrowth. Virizion looked back confused, 'can you describe the Pokémon?'  
>Kirlia nodded, 'It is large, much larger than me!' He made his point, stretching as high as he could before falling backwards, 'It has big red eyes, and four legs, no arms.' Kirlia looked up hopefully. Virizion shook her head 'Can't you give me colour or type?'<br>Kirlia looked down disappointedly, 'I can never see it fully, since it attacks by night and always when the moon is covered. I thought maybe it was a Dark type because of its tendencies to attack by night, but the nearest thing i could find in size was Zoroark and Bisharp, and they have arms and only two legs. But I do know where it's nest is!'  
>Virizion grinned 'Then let's go and get your parents back!'<br>A sunset rose above the horizon, the sun just as bright as Virizion's burning desire to see what this Pokémon was, and whether it was the one she was searching for...

Meanwhile...  
>'Yes master, preparations have been made to trap the two Pokémon, yes, the musketeer Pokémon and the smaller one. We will take out the smaller one fast, since it will only be an annoyance. Yes... I understand sir... what? f-f-fine, since you command it, we will do it...'<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Fighters Of The Rock

Terakkion stepped proudly onto the balcony, his partner Quilava closely following. As their champion came into view, the crowd roared with excitement. Their hero had just returned to the town after another successful attempt to overthrow the nearby fortress of Dark types. The town was, also, more of a fortress than a town, with thick walls surrounding the stone buildings the Rock type empire called home.  
>Quilava looked up at his master with admiration. To him, his master was the ultimate Pokémon, stronger than Arceus himself, invincible. Terrakion let out a roar, which only excited the crowd further, then, once the crowd had settled down, he started his speech:<br>'Yet again, another attempt was made to overthrow the malicious Dark types, and yet again, I prevailed magnificently. However, I was forced to retreat due to overwhelming numbers'.

Several members of the crowd nodded sagely at this, with a few murmurs of 'good idea' and 'wouldn't want to die there'. Terrakion rode the comments, nodding at a few of the crowd then returning to his speech. 'Due to my huge success, I have decided to throw a tournament to see who the best fighter here is!' With that, the crowd erupted with cheers of agreement and they started chanting Terrakion's name. Terrakion continued, 'Tomorrow, as the bell strikes 11, we will begin this tournament! Get ready your wares, and prepare for a battle like no other!' With that, Terrakion walked away from the balcony, shutting the window behind him to cut out the cheers of approval.  
>Quilava jumped for joy. 'Can I take part master? Can I? Please?'<br>Terrakion looked down at his apprentice's gleeful face and sighed. He knew that nearly only Rock types would be partaking in the tournament and Quilava had nothing to counter Rock types, so he would be pummelled in an instant. So if Quilava wanted to participate, he would have to evolve or learn a new move, both of which were nearly impossible to achieve these days. Terrakion decided to tell him straight; 'Im sorry Quilava, but no. You are not strong enough'  
>Quilava looked up, aghast. He could understand why his Master would prevent him, but, his Quilava's childishness took control of his tongue before his intelligence could get word in edge wise. He ran out of the room as fast as he could, 'It's not fair!' cried Quilava to himself 'I'm just as strong as Master- why is he so mean!'<br>Quilava kept on running until he was out of the 'town hall' and was lost in the crowds in the street. Quilava slowed down when he reached the fountain, and stopped to look at his reflection.  
>'Am I not strong enough? Is that the reason? Or does master just not like me…?' Teardrops trickled down from Quilava's face and into the fountain. Suddenly, he was barged straight into the fountain by a passer-by.<p>

'Gah!' Quilava exclaimed.  
>'Are you all right?' Quilava looked up to see the owner of the voice, and he saw a humongous beast. Quilava jumped out of the fountain and ignited his fire. 'Who are you!'<br>'Peace!' said the figure. 'I am not here to harm you!'  
>Quilava took a second glance at the figure, and gasped, 'You're a Tyranitar!' Quilava noticed the black scar going over Tyranitar's right eye, 'and not just any Tyranitar, you're the Tyranitar! You fought with Captain Gyarados over rightful control of the ocean around Port Water! You've fought side by side with Rhyperior the Avenger against the horde of Houndoom at the gates to Inferno Keep! You're a hero!'<br>Tyranitar laughed, 'You make me sound like a legendary! Tell me, is there anything I can do for you? I'm sorry about pushing you into the fountain, what with you being a Fire type and all'.  
>Quilava thought about this for a while. 'I need to learn a move that would be super effective on Rock types, think you can help?'<br>Tyranitar looked up at the sky. He murmured, 'Oh why do you give me the tasks that are difficult for even you?' He turned back to Quilava 'I will help. There are two moves you can learn; one is a physical move and wouldn't be very good on you, and the other is a long shot. Think you can handle them?'  
>Quilava nodded vigorously. 'I will do anything to prove master wrong!'<br>Tyranitar took out to discs, one was brown, and one was normal. He threw the normal one to Quilava, 'we will start with this one, since it is quite random'  
>Quilava took the disc and rested his head on it, and with that, the disc started glowing.<p>

Virizion and Kirlia stepped into the clearing of felled trees, a low growl audible in the cave in front of them. Virizion stepped forward. 'Monster! Bring back this child's parents now, or you will suffer wrath beyond you comprehension!'  
>There was no response.<br>Virizion looked around hopefully. 'Perhaps it isn't in?'  
>Kirlia stood there silently, then replied quietly, 'No, it's in there all right, I can feel it's wrath… in fact… it's coming out at us… right… NOW!'<br>Several things happened when Kirlia said 'now'. First of all, the forest suddenly went quiet, then, a deep, mono-tone voice rumbled from the cave, and finally, Virizion looked in awe as Kirlia leapt into the air, his fists surrounded with burning Fire and the energy of a Fighting type. 


End file.
